Last weekend we planned to drive the north loop in Yellowstone, but due to the weather one of the roads was not open. We decided to drive north to Mammoth Hot Springs and then east to the Lamar Valley and retrace our route back home. It's looking more like spring and we saw many animals.
Here we saw some female elk in the water.
Interestingly enough we saw this grizzly bear near Grizzly Lake. There were so many cars parked at this location we could not safely get off the road, so we just snapped a few pictures as we drove by.
Further along, south of the Golden Gate area, we saw a mother grizzly and what we figure must have been a pair of last year's cubs. Here is the mom looking towards us.
A short distance from the mother grizzly these two young ones were evidently feeding on a carcass. Fortunately the grass was high enough we could not see what they were eating.
While we are watching the grizzly family, this adult bison wanders by.
Then as he gets closer to where the grizzlies are he starts kicking up dirt.
The mother comes closer and places herself between her babies and the bison.
Then they all watch the bison walk away.
Many people stop to watch the grizzlies. We are all a safe distance away.
After watching the bears we drive to Mammoth and then head east. Here we take a short walk to the overlook for Tower Falls. The trail to the base of the falls is not open, so we'll hike that next time.
Another view from the falls overlook. What a beautiful day.
These pronghorn and bison were in the Lamar Valley. Notice the two bison calves laying down to the right side of the picture.
There were many bison in the Lamar Valley.
